[Africa]Letter of Presentation for the setting up
of an Educational Structure
at Banfora (Burkina Faso)
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a country situated in the centre of West Africa, which sits on a plateau 250 to 350 meters high and covers 274.200 square kilometers.
With a population of 11 million inhabitants, of which 58% are women, Burkina Faso counts around 60 ethnic and cultural groups, or ‘nationalities.’
The localization of the project
Banfora is a town of medium size in Burkina Faso. It is located at the extreme South-West of the country, close to the border with the Ivory Coast, covering a surface of 85 square kilometers.
The climate is sub-Saharan with only one rain season. This allows for just one harvesting during the year, and even that is sometimes compromised by the irregularity and bad distribution of the rainfall and by the degradation of the soil.
The reality of Burkina Faso
The socio-economic context of Burkina Faso and of the region of Banfora is not very satisfactory.
From the economic point of view, the poverty of the rural people and conventional way of thinking are stumbling blocks to the full development of the individuals.
Concerning the education, the demand is largely superior to the offer. Only two children out of five have the opportunity to attend school. The rate of schooling was in 1998/99 of 40% for the boys and 38% for the girls.
There is certain disparity between boys and girls regarding the access to education and this is due to the social system biased in favour of the male.
In fact, for a long time, the parents didn’t think very much about the education of the women. The girls were supposed to help the mother at home and to learn how to manage with the domestic chores. Their future was marriage and so there was no need to send them to school. In the presence of economic difficulties, the parents prefer to send their sons to school, hoping in a successful activity and in being taken care of. The daughter is destined to form a new family and so it is not possible to rely on her when she leaves home.
This social context and the weak educational offer have contributed to marginalize the girls at all levels (primary, secondary, high school).
In order to increase the number of girls accessing school, the educational effort must be addressed towards the women. The opportunities of education could be promoted and diversified through the intervention in the sector of private school establishments.
It is for all these reasons that Mrs. Mariam Traoré, the promoter of the project, a former teacher, aims to open an educational structure for contributing to the development of the province of Comoé. The policy of this structure will be to give priority to the enrolment of girls assigning to them preferential quotas.
Contacts
This project requires the involvement and participation of many people.
Your views and suggestions are as important to us, at this stage, as your financial assistance. Most importantly, we would now like to establish links with individuals and organizations that could help us to set up something quite remarkable for the girls of Burkina Faso.
If you and/or your organization would like to be a part of this exciting project and are prepared to assist in any way, big or small, please get in touch with us at one of the following addresses:
Mariam Traoré
tmariam82 at [@] yahoo.frGian Piero de Bellis
gpdebellis at [@] tiscali.it
We hope to hear from you soon and we thank you in advance for your consideration.